The invention concerns a motor vehicle axle transmission mounting system which is located within a trough-shaped self-supporting bodywork chassis between vehicle bodywork side walls located between driven wheels of a vehicle axle having independent wheel suspensions.
A motor vehicle is already known from DE-PS No. 729 937 which has a driven vehicle axle between the wheels of which is located, at low level, a trough-shaped, self-supporting bodywork. In this case, the driven vehicle axle forms a rigid axle whose body accepting the axle transmission is integrated in the bodywork so that the floor of the trough of the bodywork is located underneath the axle body and where the axle tunnel accepting the axle shafts penetrate the bodywork side walls and are held in the latter.
This design excludes, inter alia, a sprung arrangement of bodywork and driven vehicle axle and is suitable for agricultural vehicles.
A motor vehicle with an arrangement of a driven vehicle axle on a trough-shaped bodywork provided at a low level, which permits sprung movements of the vehicle wheels and which has an axle transmission mounting system which is located within a trough-shaped self-supporting bodywork chassis between vehicle bodywork side walls located between driven wheels of a vehicle axle having independent wheel suspensions is known from DE-OS No. 33 09 152. For this purpose, the vehicle axle is equipped with independent wheel suspension so that the axle transmission necessary for driving the axle wheels has to be installed within the bodywork because of its low level and the axle shafts to be driven by the axle transmission have to be fed through the bodywork side walls.
The object of the invention is to make possible rapid and exact execution of the assembly and removal of the axle transmission within the trough-shaped bodywork while, however, avoiding an arrangement of mounting and/or supporting devices for the axle transmission which have to be provided on the inside of the bodywork floor and/or bodywork side walls and require special procedures.
This objective is achieved, according to the invention, by having the axle transmission be secured solely by acceptance elements means which are engaged in recesses means of casing part means of the axle transmission and insertable from the outside of the bodywork into a wall opening and wherein the casing part means are located between the bodywork side walls.
The design according to the invention makes it possible to insert the acceptance elements, provided for accepting the axle transmission, from outside the bodywork into the wall penetrations of the bodywork side walls provided for the location of the acceptance elements and to bring the acceptance elements into engagement with the recess means provided in the casing parts of the axle transmission. The acceptance elements thus form mounting elements to fix the axle transmission in a precise installation position within the bodywork without corresponding measures for this purpose having to be present within the bodywork.
The installation space for the axle transmission can thus be very tightly dimensioned because its mounting points do not have to be accessible within the bodywork.
A preferred embodiment of the invention has the acceptance elements means utilizing holding pins means which have a pin front end which contracts conically and engages in the complementary recess means o? the casing parts of the axle transmission. This makes possible and simultaneously imposes self-adjustment of the axle transmission within the bodywork, when the acceptance elements are brought into engagement with their corresponding casing parts. The adjustment of mounting acceptance features can therefore be avoided even in the case of repeated axle transmission assembly. For this purpose, the acceptance elements, arranged in the openings of the mutually opposite side walls of the bodywork side walls, define an obtuse angle (.alpha.) closing towards the top in a plane at right angles to a longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
In order to compensate for manufacturing tolerances, for purposes of noise reduction due to vibration through the cooperating mounting elements, and for elastic-suspension of the axle transmission, an arrangement of rubber thrust mountings mounted into recesses of the casing parts is recommended. In order to avoid torque-induced pitch motions of the axle transmission and for the purpose of exact alignment during its installation, it useful to have two casing parts on each side of the transmission located adjacent to one another and separated along a longitudinal distance of the vehicle.
The arrangement of the axle transmission wherein the transmission is located between inwardly protruding wall indentations of the bodywork side walls permits simple assembly of the axle transmission, as well as, protected accommodation of the transmission-side links of an axle shaft, designed as a cardan shaft, within the wall indentations on the outsides of the bodywork. Also, the employment of relatively long axle shafts permit correspondingly large deflection angles between the acceptance means.
Where the bodywork side walls extend obliquely from the bottom of the vehicle upwards and outwards, particular assembly and manufacturing advantages can be achieved if the external surface of the all indentations supporting the axle transmission by means of the acceptance elements are, substantially flat and parallel to the external surface of a substantially flat part of the bodywork side walls and if the centerlines of the acceptance elements are at right angles to the external surface of the wall indentations. By this means, the necessary work on the external surface of the chassis indentations, used for mounting the acceptance elements in the chassis indentations, can take place in a holding fixture of the trough-shaped bodywork which is provided for the main work on the corresponding outer side wall surface parts.
These and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which show, for the purposes of illustration only, one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, and wherein: